Determination of Rational Conditions of Preliminary Ozonation of Nonionic Polyethoxylated Surfactants before Biosorption

The influence of preliminary oxidation of nonionic surfactants solutions on the biosorption efficiency of activated carbon was investigated. The Gibbs free energy of adsorption (?ΔG^o _a) of oxidation products from water on an activated carbon was used as a parameter of the bacterial resistance of oxidation products adsorption. It was established for nonionic surfactants, that ozonation essentially raised the contents of nonionic surfactant homologues with a low degree of ethoxylation. It leads to the increase in the Gibbs free energy of oxidation products adsorption and to inhibition of biodegradation process.

It was shown that the efficiency of biosorption process after preliminary ozonation was 2–3 times lower than without preliminary treatment that correlated with changes of the free energy of adsorption.